X-ray systems are increasingly designed such that they cover as many clinical applications as possible with one device. Advantages of these types of universal and combined systems are the low costs and space requirements.
Applications pertaining hereto are those in which the patient is not positioned on a patient table, but is instead standing and supported by the table. Examples for this are x-ray recordings of the lung. The patient table is then brought into an upright position. In the prior art, the patient cannot get sufficiently close to the detector, as a result of the table top located in the radiation path, which results in a geometric enlargement of the image and a geometric limitation of the region to be examined. By way of example, the quality of the lung recordings is hereby restricted in that the shoulder regions (tips of the lungs) are not imaged sufficiently well. The positioning of the patient to the detector is complicated since it is not possible to fix him/her to the detector housing or to position him/her suitably. The table top gets in the way here.
An advanced solution is the so-called wall stand solution, with which the x-ray tube of a table system can be aligned to a wall, behind which the image receiver is located. This solution is complex and requires more space, thereby rendering it expensive.
Provision was also partially made to remove the entire table top. Since this is an extremely heavy load, its removal is very complex.
A fluoroscopy table with detachable parts for endoscopic applications is known from the company Hitachi.
An adjuster which can be used for instance with an x-ray table is known from DE 94 18 386 U1, with which a complex collapsible mechanism enables a wheelchair to optionally assume the function of a chair or the function of a table.